Until the rising national anger over the cost of medicines, Novo Nordisk (NVO) retained a relatively low profile among drug makers. But as one of the three large purveyors of insulin, the Danish company has more recently occupied an uncomfortable spot in the limelight. Along with Sanofi (SNY) and Eli Lilly (LLY), the company has been accused of price gouging, collusion, and indifference to people with diabetes, some of whom are now driving from the U.S. to Canada to buy insulin. The events prompted Novo chief executive Lars Fruergaard Jorgensen to go on a “listening tour” in late June to sort out the problem. We met with him at the outset of his excursion and this is an edited version of our conversation.
Pharmalot: What do you hope to learn on this tour?
Jorgensen: It’s a sign of my desperation, or frustration. You hear more and more stories about patients struggling to get their insulin. I read stories about politicians feeling there’s no competition in the insulin space. And the president says how industry gets away with murder.
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